Tag: bollywood films

Categories
Press Pop Culture

Best of The Tempest 2018: 9 Stories from Pop Culture

[Image description: A collage of four images from The Shape of Water, Crimes of Grindelwald, The Bold Type, Chris Brown overlaid with 'Pop Culture 2018 #bestofthetempest18']
[Image description: A collage of four images from The Shape of Water, Crimes of Grindelwald, The Bold Type, Chris Brown overlaid with 'Pop Culture 2018 #bestofthetempest18']

It’s been a peculiar year in the realm of entertainment. We’ve had such big, progressive victories and such big setbacks and anachronisms in terms of representation, transparency, and inclusivity. Many LGBTQ+ artists thrived, and 2018 was dubbed 20GAYTEEN by singer Hayley Kiyoko. It was the year of Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians, and yet big name studios are still out there producing films that are imbued with racism, sexism, homophobia, and fatphobia as well as often promoting rape and hate.

We’re still light years away from consuming the egalitarian entertainment we deserve. I knew that very well when I became Pop Culture Editor at The Tempest. I understood that I would have to look closely at many media products that would make me mad, which I would rather ignore and avoid at all costs, but I gladly accepted the challenge. I believe our mission is to shed light on everything that is going on, and that includes denouncing the many injustices that occur in the entertainment industry. We can’t possibly stay silent about the things we deem wrong, because silence is complicity.

But we also don’t like to only see the glass half empty, and we love to admit that there are many things to praise and to celebrate. Without further ado, I present to you 9 of my favorite Pop Culture stories we published in 2018, a mix of the good and the bad.

1. Why are blockbuster films pretending that lesbians and bisexuals don’t exist?

Why are blockbuster films pretending that lesbians and bisexuals don’t exist?

Despite the good representation that television and the music industry gifted us with this year, blockbusters are still actively promoting the erasure of female queerness as well as employing queer bait. This is a trend that needs to stay in 2018.

2. What time is it, Hollywood?

What time is it, Hollywood?

What about what happens behind the camera? This article explores some trends of the entertainment industry from the inside out, because actresses are not the only people we need to protect. Let’s say #TimesUp to all kinds of discrimination.

3. Dislikeable female characters aren’t inherently feminist – but that’s okay

Dislikeable female characters aren’t inherently feminist – but that’s okay

There is a big misconception in fiction and in critique: that a female character who dares be different and dislikable is automatically a great feminist heroine. She’s not, and that’s okay.

4. Why I’m boycotting J.K. Rowling and her “Fantastic Beasts”

Why I’m boycotting J.K. Rowling and her “Fantastic Beasts”

We are tired of people giving J.K. Rowling a free pass for everything just because she wrote a beautiful book series 20 years ago. For a while now, she has been twisting things to appear “woke” instead of honestly admitting that as the times progressed, she also wants to be more inclusive. There is no need to say that she was planning plot twists all along when in reality the implications of that make her way more problematic. Read why in this piece!

5. Bollywood item numbers are more dangerous than we think

Bollywood item numbers are more dangerous than we think

If you don’t know what an item number is, you need to read this piece. If you do know, you need to read this piece. It’s eye-opening and I will never look at a Bollywood film the same way again.

6. This director’s approach to diverse female characters completely changed my movie-watching experience

This director’s approach to diverse female characters completely changed my movie-watching experience

Contrary to what some haters will have you believe about feminists, we do celebrate the accomplishments and achievements of men, when they deserve it. This article is a clap on the back of an Oscar-winning director for an amazing film that contributed to making 2018 better.

7. Yes, The Bold Type is unrealistic… just not for the reasons you think

Yes, The Bold Type is unrealistic… just not for the reasons you think 

You may or may not know this show, which was a true revelation for its honest representation of working (and woke!) millennial women. However, the show has been accused of portraying a utopistic world of equality (but it really doesn’t, the protagonists deal with misogyny, racism and homophobia every day). This article cleverly responds to that claim, contextualizing it particularly within the journalism world (where the main characters spend most of their time) that we know too well.

8. Karma has finally come for Chris Brown, and we can thank women for that

Karma has finally come for Chris Brown, and we can thank women for that

Abusers deserve to be held accountable for their actions. After the tidal wave that was the #MeToo movement, it’s good to see that celebrities are still being taken down after abusive behavior.

9. My mind tells me to read, but my body is overwhelmed and overworked

My mind tells me to read, but my body is overwhelmed and overworked

A constant struggle in the transition to adulthood is that we are burdened with too many responsibilities and we have too little time to do the things we actually want to do out of sheer pleasure, like reading. It does not help that books have gained a very strong competitor for our time and attention, the “monster” that are streaming services.

We’re ready to kiss 2018 goodbye. In the hope that 2019 will be a more satisfying year for women, people of color, and all oppressed minorities, happy new year from the staff of The Tempest!

Categories
Movies Music BRB Gone Viral Pop Culture

Bollywood item numbers are more dangerous than we think

[Image description: The actress Katrina Kaif caught mid-dance pose, surrounded by a roomful of men in the same pose.]
Flickr.com [Image description: The actress Katrina Kaif caught mid-dance pose, surrounded by a roomful of men in the same pose.]

On some scale, the item number has always been a part of the Bollywood film.

Generally defined as a musical number in a South Asian film that has no relevance to the plot and is purely for marketing purposes, item numbers have existed since as far back as the 1930s. Back then, the vamps performed musical numbers to inject an element of risqué sensuality into otherwise fairly tame cinema. In 2010, two lovely fictional ladies called Munni and Sheila changed that.

Their eponymous item numbers revolutionized the place of item numbers in Bollywood.

[Image description: The actress Malaika Arora and five male dancers dancing to the song Munni Badnaam.]
Giphy.com [Image description: The actress Malaika Arora and five male dancers dancing to the song Munni Badnaam.]
Before the release of Munni Badnaam and Sheila Ki Jawaani in the same year, item numbers were a novelty. Since then, they have become a regular occurrence. Considering that the basic premise of an item number revolves around a scantily-clad ‘item girl’ who is almost always depicted dancing provocatively for an exclusively male audience, the gender implications are impossible to ignore.

There is a very clear message that is obvious across these iconic songs: The ‘item girl’ is an ‘item’, an object put on sexual display. It’s common for item numbers to be composed of an audience of leering unknown men who have gathered to watch the dance, performed by the item girl either alone or with faceless backup dancers. The women are always dressed in sensual clothing and the lyrics highlight female sexuality and desirability.

On paper, item numbers form the perfect formula for female sexual empowerment.

In reality, they mostly result in the most blatant objectification. Camera angles zoom in over gyrating hips and linger over bare waists as blatantly as the eyes of the ogling men with no subtlety. The gaze in these dance numbers presents itself as vaguely voyeuristic, at best.

There is a very deliberate implication present; that the item girl is not only inviting the leers and jeers,but she is also enjoying them.

[Image description: Actress Katrina Kaif is pictured wearing a gold bra-top and skirt, surrounded by a group of men who lean in to stare at her hips as she shakes them.]
Giphy.com [Image description: Actress Katrina Kaif is pictured wearing a gold bra-top and skirt, surrounded by a group of men who lean in to stare at her hips as she shakes them.]
It sends an ugly message, one that not everyone agrees with. Film-making giant Karan Johar has admitted to the implications of item numbers and themes of stalking in Bollywood, promising not to use them again. Veteran actress Shabana Azmi has also been particularly vocal about her stance against them. “These item numbers are forced in the movies. They think that the movie will do well because of the item number when the truth is they have absolutely no connection with the film and story,” she reportedly said. Actress Sharmila Tagore, on the other hand, opined that not all item numbers are “vulgar”, but sexuality is presented similarly in most forms of media.

That said, in a society that already champions hypermasculinity and male dominance, showing a woman happily submitting to being a whirling piece of meat for a crowd of lechers is nothing short of catastrophic. Does that translate directly to rape culture? Maybe not.

South Asian society is not yet at a place where discussions of rape are commonplace in most places. The effect of these seemingly harmless songs is much more intrinsically sinister.

When you put an absurdly catchy tune on the television for weeks on end, people will be caught. They are drawn to that song, getting it stuck in their head whether they like it or not. Item numbers are fun, catchy and often irresistible. It’s understandable.

But when that song shows a woman who has no significance to the plot and exists purely to be a sexually submissive pastry to glorify how appealing and desirable the male protagonist is, it sends a message that this is a women’s place. They have to be submissive and sexually available and, most importantly, enjoy being leered at.

A considerable percentage of society considers this level of harassment normal. They think boys will be boys and girls should be flattered if they’re catcalled. They think women are forgetting the difference between harassment and flirting. When Bollywood gives us iconic dance numbers that say yes, women love attention like this, why shouldn’t people believe it?

It’s just teasing and flirtation, right?

It doesn’t seem to matter to the film industry at large that uses item numbers as a major marketing tactic, even if impressionable children are regularly exposed to them. As a result, maybe one can argue that they don’t promote rape culture but, are you sure?

They sure do promote the toxic mentality that gives birth to it.

Categories
Movies Pop Culture

In Bollywood, getting married can ruin your career

[Image description: Image of a middle-aged man and young woman laughing with their arms around each other.]
Red Chillies Entertainment. [Image description: Image of a middle-aged man and young woman laughing with their arms around each other.]

One of the first Bollywood films I remember watching was Karan Arjun. It came out in 1995 and featured both Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan, opposite Kajol and Mamta Kulkarni. Their ages then were 30, 30, 21 and 23 respectively.

The latest film I watched by either man was this year, with Salman Khan in 2016’s Sultan and Shahrukh Khan in 2017’s Jab Harry Met Sejal, meaning that both actors were 50 or above in the film. The love interest in both films was Anushka Sharma, who was under 29 years old at the time.

Unfortunately, the 20+ years age difference is not an isolated incident in Bollywood. It’s the norm. When an actor hits it big – and they always seem to hit it bigger than the actresses – he will spend approximately the next 40 years playing a dashing young hero, until he finally admits to himself that he is old enough to play the aged father role. Before that, however, he will spend years playing a supposedly charming love interest to a much younger woman. The curse of ageism may never strike him.

This problem is endemic to the Bollywood industry.

Women are shamed for everything, from their age to their weight, and it’s not fair. Marriage is the end of most actresses’ careers. Cinematic powerhouses, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit have been reduced to being a rare on-screen treat because women sacrificing their careers for their family is just something that happens.

It’s not surprising.

In the rare case, that marriage is not the kiss of death for their cinematic careers though, once they cross the invisible age line that hinders their marriageability, it’s game over. Rarely do older women appear as the leads in commercial (especially romantic) cinema. Instead, they are relegated to doing more serious roles – whether they want to or not. As soon as an actress crosses 40, being a mother is basically the only avenue left open to her, never mind the ages of her sons. They can be the justice-seeking wives of wrongfully murdered men or the young mothers of film heroes, but never again are they the heroine again.

Meanwhile, age will rarely count as even a single nail in a male actor’s Bollywood career.

Actors like the two aforementioned Khans are presented as being as charming and desirable at 50 as they were at 30, while the women featured opposite them get younger and younger. It is rare for their contemporaries, like Kajol (currently 43), Aishwarya Rai (44), Juhi Chawla and Madhuri Dixit (both 50), to appear in films by now and rarer still for them to appear as romantic interests. It appears that for Bollywood, the expiration date for these powerhouse women has passed. On the occasion that they are allowed to appear as desirable figures, women past a certain age must be absolutely flawless, nary an ounce of cellulite in sight.

Signs of aging are simply not acceptable in women.

I grew up watching Bollywood films with my parents, and the main characters were about the same age as them. They belonged to the same generation and, in my mind, they were roughly equivalent to my mum and dad. The men still are, only they are far more buff and well-coiffed than your average middle-aged father. Women like my mum – average, middle-aged, working-class real women – just don’t exist in most films.

And it’s not that the industry is not aware of how deep the problem runs.

In regards to a film he did in 2016, where he was paired against the much-younger Sonam Kapoor, Salman Khan himself described the on-screen love story as “romancing Sonam Kapoor, [his] friend’s daughter.”

The public eye won’t allow actresses to age easily, but Bollywood doesn’t have a place for them either. Actresses like Anushka Sharma and Deepika Padukone (29 and 32 respectively) appear as often against their own contemporaries as they do against much older co-stars.

So what, exactly, is Bollywood trying to tell us?

That women expire early and become undesirable and matronly? Or that men are attractive at all ages, unlike women. Either implication is, frankly, really bloody gross and I’m done with it. Hey, Bollywood? You can do better.

Categories
Movies Pop Culture

8 movies guaranteed to make you fall in love with Bollywood again

[Image description: Four young women in pink and gold sherwanis and turbans are pictured.]
Instagram.com [Image description: Four young women in pink and gold sherwanis and turbans are pictured.]

Bollywood films deserve their fair share of flack. I get it. They can be gratuitous cinematic fluff, sometimes a little more than a predictable romance with catchy dance numbers. Don’t even get me started on the melodramatic fight sequences with indulgent close-ups of a buff actor’s pecs. There’s a lot of garbage cinema being produced, to put it frankly.

But every once in a while, a film comes out that restores your faith in the entire cinematic operation. Bollywood redeems itself. A film that you actually enjoy is made, one that you can re-watch on Netflix every time you’re sad. And it’s those films that are single-handedly trying to save Hindi cinema.

1. Queen (2014)

[Image description: A man and woman standing by the river. The woman is saying, saying, “My sense of humor is very good, you'll slowly find out.”]
[Image description: A man and woman standing by the river. The woman is saying, saying, “My sense of humor is very good, you’ll slowly find out.”] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? An awkward homely girl is dumped the day before her wedding and is heartbroken. She decides to go on her honeymoon alone anyway because she’s been obsessed with going to Paris since she was a child. Cue an hour and a half of hilarity, hijinks and heartwarming fun.

Reasons to watch: It’s basically Legally Blonde-meets-Sex and The City: The Movie. Except with even more girl power, Kangana Ranaut’s excellent comedic timing, and a banging soundtrack.

2. Margarita, with a Straw (2014)

[Image description: A woman with cerebral palsy putting on lip gloss.]
[Image description: A woman with cerebral palsy putting on lip gloss.] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? 19-year-old Laila is a college student who loves music, writes lyrics and has cerebral palsy. The movie delves into her experiences with self-discovery, romance, sexuality, and independence.

Reasons to watch: Visible disabilities like cerebral palsy are not often featured in films, particularly not those in Bollywood. Directed by Shonali Bose, a woman who grew up alongside a cousin with cerebral palsy, and with Kalki Koechlin playing the lead role, the film touches upon living with disabilities with sensitivity and nuance.

Also, the director made a serious attempt to hire actors with cerebral palsy and blindness. Eventually, she had to concede to the lack of actors with disabilities in India, especially those willing to do sexual scenes, but the attempt is commendable.

3. Dear Zindagi (2016)

[Image description: A girl and her therapist cycling down a sunny deserted road.]
[Image description: A girl and her therapist cycling down a sunny deserted road.] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? 24-year-old Kaira is a cinematographer who loves what she does and is kicking off a great career. She’s also kind of a bona fide mess, whose life has decided to fall apart. Then, at what feels like the lowest of lows, Dr. Jehangir Khan crosses her path.

Reasons to watch: It is a healthy mental health representation in a Bollywood film! Pure, healthy female friendships! Serious conversations about therapy and mental health! Self-love as the ultimate goal!

4. Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)

[Image description: A brother and sister having a conversation on a boat. The woman asks, “Do you really want this marriage?” and the man responds, “Do you really want this divorce?”]
[Image description: A brother and sister having a conversation on a boat. The woman asks, “Do you really want this marriage?” and the man responds, “Do you really want this divorce?”] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? It’s essentially a family going on a cruise with their closest friends to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Mehra’s 30th wedding anniversary, but it’s also so much more. The film is about love and relationships, in the simplest, most complex and often hilarious forms.

Reasons to watch: The film may seem like one big party, but character dynamics are nuanced and delightfully complex, particularly touching upon issues that the youth face every day. It’s also told from the perspective of the family dog, which is kind of the best thing in the world.

5. Kapoor & Sons (2016)

[Image description: Pictured is a man trying to break a bowl of chips, while his wife and two sons grapple with it. ]
[Image description: Pictured is a man trying to break a bowl of chips, while his wife and two sons grapple with it. ] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? A family drama about two estranged brothers coming back home because their grandfather is sick. It’s a messy rollercoaster ride of emotions—which is exactly what familial relationships can be like.

Reasons to watch: As a somewhat more serious counterpart to Dil Dhadakne Do, this film dissects the little imperfections that linger in familial relationships. It’s an interesting look at the intricacies of a family: the good, the bad, and the definitely messy.

6. Pink (2016)

[Image description: A girl is pictured speaking angrily into a mobile phone, saying, “I am bored, you coward. So stop talking, and come and show me what you can do.”]
[Image description: A girl is pictured speaking angrily into a mobile phone, saying, “I am bored, you coward. So stop talking, and come and show me what you can do.”] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? A courtroom drama featuring three single, independent girls who get involved with a few men and find themselves in hot water. The film is a dark, arresting thriller that focuses on the perception and treatment of women and how the law treats them.

Reasons to watch: For a film industry that considers stalking and harassment romantic, conversations about consent are both rare and incredibly important. Pink has no scruples addressing major problems faced by women that are so casually swept under the rug and minces no words with what it says.

7. Hichki (2018)

[Image description: A woman is pictured enthusiastically saying, “I was born to be a teacher, sir.” and then twitching involuntarily.]
[Image description: A woman is pictured enthusiastically saying, “I was born to be a teacher, sir.” and then twitching involuntarily.] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? A young woman with Tourette’s Syndrome returns to her alma mater as a teacher and is assigned to teach the most problematic class. She decides to give it her all, by persisting and inspiring her students (in the least inspiration porn way possible).

Reasons to watch: Disability visibility in Bollywood films is a rare and wonderful thing, especially in a female-centric film. Throw in some honest critique of the educational system and a charming performance by Rani Mukherjee and you’ve got yourself a winner.

8. Veere Di Wedding (2018)

[Image description: Four girls are pictured sitting around a table at a bar. One is frowning, while the other three laugh and high-five.]
[Image description: Four girls are pictured sitting around a table at a bar. One is frowning, while the other three laugh and high-five.] Attribution: Via Giphy
What’s it about? A girl gang! That is four best friends who have grown up together and call each other veers (brothers). They flock back together in adulthood for the marriage-averse Kalindi’s impending wedding. In the process, they wade through the turbulent waters of adult relationships, knowing that they have each other’s backs.

Reasons to watch: Do you know how rare it is for there to be a film led by 4 women with no famous male actors, much less in Bollywood? Very. For that film to portray desi women realistically – including sex, filthy cursing, unconditional love and support and shameless humor – is something phenomenal. Plus, several male reviewers have problems with the stance it takes against the patriarchy apparently, so you know it’s good.

Categories
Gender Race Inequality

For those of you protesting the Bollywood movie Padmaavat, hear me out.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/padmaavat-2018
[Image Description : A still from the movie Padmaavat, featuring Deepika Padukone as Queen Padmavati] Via Roger Ebert

Note: spoilers ahead for the movie Padmaavat.

It can be safely said that no Indian movie of recent times had faced as much controversy as Padmaavat. It’s a movie inspired by the epic poem Padmavat from the 1500’s,  written by Sufi poet Malik Muhammed Jayasi.  It tells the story of Queen Padmavati, the wife of Rajput king Maharawal Ratan Singh. While the king is an actual historical figure, Padmavati is considered to be fictional. The Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji, a cruel and powerful king, develops a desire for the queen after he hears about her legendary beauty. Driven by a greed to possess all the precious things in the world, the king declares war and kills King Ratan Singh, Padmavati’s husband.

To avoid being captured and raped by the cruel king, Padmavati ends up performing jauhar – an act of self-immolation.

To be fair, Padmaavat is not the best movie ever.

It has its flaws, and it certainly has many problematic aspects. But then, from what I know of Bollywood, we have never made such big deal about problematic concepts before, so why now? Has India suddenly become woke? Sadly, the answer is no. Now, if the protests were objecting to the way the film appropriated certain concepts or the representation of stereotypes, then I would’ve applauded them. However, the protests against the movie are built on misunderstanding, and it’s been disgusting to watch them take place.

The main claim behind the protests is that Rajput caste is portrayed in a bad light.

However, if anything, King Ratan Singh spends half of his time on screen professing the honor and glory of Rajputs. The movie is ironically an ode to Rajputs – their valor, principles, honor, and values. How that ended up as an insult, I really can’t understand. Another argument against the movie is that it features an intimate scene between a Muslim king and a Hindu queen. However, after seeing it,  I can confirm that there is no such scene. Padmavati and Khalji are not even seen in the same frame.

In fact, even though Khalji desires the queen, he doesn’t even properly lay eyes on her.

Akhilesh Khandelwal, an Indian politician, announced a reward for anyone who attacks the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali with a shoe. The director has since then been attacked on set, and both the director and actress Deepika Padukone (who plays Padmavati) received death threats and had bounties set on their heads.

A dead body was even hung at Jaipur Fort with a sign “Padmavati ka virodh” (in opposition to Padmavati). 

Things became even more violent when people began to burn vehicles on the road, and theaters became too afraid to screen the movie. Worst of all, protesters even attacked a school bus carrying students.

An investigation even claimed that the whole protest was actually a scheme by the organization to garner attention and money. Now, I know it’s an extreme claim, but seeing what the organization has been doing, even after knowing that there hasn’t been any offensive content in the movie? I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was actually true.

Like I said before, the movie does have a lot of problems. I fully recognize that.

Honestly, I can’t help but feel as if the story glorified the act of suicide as a method of escaping capture. There were about 20 minutes of epic music as a group of women clad in red walked towards a fire ( they even make sure to show two small girls and a pregnant woman amidst the crowd, was that really necessary?) instead of feeling the goosebumps I should have, I was horrified.

A lot of people were also angry over the way Alauddin Khalji was portrayed. A Muslim king being picturized as a barbarian, a man who’s greedy, lustful, and utterly ruthless didn’t go well with everyone, and I can totally understand why. But, Khalji was an actual king who was cruel and powerful.

To me, it was just an honest portrayal of history, not a commentary on Muslim leaders.

As a movie, Padmaavat was not perfect, but it’s aesthetically beautiful and one should just watch it for the performance of Ranveer Singh (who plays Khalji, and sent chills along my spine).

Yes, the movie does have problematic aspects.

But not the ones the protesters claim, and even if it was true, I don’t think the atrocities of the protesters should be commended. The government has spent months ignoring the violence, and it’s high time that they step up and bring a stop to the madness that has taken over these so-called cultural advocates.

Categories
Race Inequality

I grew up surrounded by the Desi obsession with fair skin – but will it ever change?

Pinterest

With store-shelves stocked full of Fair and Lovely, the fairness cream, and light-skinned models and actresses dominating my TV screen, South Asia is truly a hub of colorism at its worst. Light skin privilege is very much alive and well here.

It begins at a young age, when the dark-skinned child is shamed for their skin tone and the light-skinned child is praised for theirs. An inadvertent obsession with light skin exists in the South Asian community that puts light-skinned South Asians on a pedestal whilst degrading, demeaning, and (even) ignoring their dark-skinned counterparts.

There is an underlying colorist tendency here that gets manifested in simple everyday behaviors and larger social situations as well. Initially, light-skinned POC’s in South Asia are inherently favored and praised – even when they haven’t achieved anything of extraordinary feat in schools, colleges, etc. Whereas light-skinned POC’s enjoy a preference and favoritism when it comes to jobs, relationships, and the like, all because they are generally considered “superior” or “more attractive” as compared to their dark-skinned counterparts.

As a light-skinned POC myself, I have seen this in play personally where I’ve been told by other light-skinned POC’s that there are things I needn’t worry about because of my skin tone. And that disgusts me to my core.

Colorism is a symptom as well as a system of oppression at work, especially in Asia. It stems from an intrinsically internalized proclivity towards light skin and a subsequent tendency to promote light-skinned individuals socially, economically, and otherwise too. It’s extremely regressive and dangerous because it encourages a harmful stereotype against dark-skinned individuals wherein they are judged and placed in society solely on the basis of their skin color.

Colorism creates an unfair hierarchy on the basis of skin color and ignores other important factors that actually matter when it comes to societal status. There are so many microaggressions at work in perpetuating this colorist tendency on the larger scale every day. Skin whitening creams, powders, and now there’s the advent of apps that lighten your skin tone – all this only seeks to deeply perpetuate colorism in a society that was already suffering due to it.

“Let’s take that photo again, I look so dark in it,” is a very common cause of misery for the modern Indian girl because looking dark skinned is supposed to be directly proportional with being unattractive.

Despite there being a wave of reclaiming ourselves for the way we are in this modern day and age of feminism, there still exists an inherent colorist tendency even in the body positivity movement where young women and men still prefer  “conventional good looks” which are more often than not synonymous with being light skinned. Colorism is nothing but an amalgamation of years of oppression through caste-based and class-based inequalities in South Asia, where the upper strata of the stay indoors,  and the lower strata work primarily outdoors under the sun.

This has persisted over the years and became an ideology where darker skin was and is associated with a sense of inferiority and lighter skin with a sense of superiority. Despite it being absolutely ridiculous, even in the 21st century, we have newspaper ads for matrimonials in South Asia where a boys’ family can (and does) ask for a “fair skinned bride”.

It sounds preposterous because it is, but colorism is a reality that needs to be fought and put to rest because nobody’s skin color was, is, or ever will be a measure of their self-worth in any way.